More than 1800 people have contacted Dog’s trust to rehome unwanted lockdown puppies

[AlternativePerspective]

And 1 in 4 people admitted they had impulse purchased a pet during lockdown.

how the fuck do we get the message home that a puppy isn’t a toy and that people should think twice three, ten times before rushing out and buying one.

And obviously the increased prices aren’t a deterrent, although those are about greed anyway, because these people are buying them for £££ and then selling them on for the same prices.

www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/pets/a35115185/hundreds-puppies-resold-abandoned/

This is absolutely awful and has broken my heart. I would love a puppy myself but the prices have sky rocketed. I’m used to spaniel dogs and people are charging nearly 4K for one. I’m lucky that I am working from home for atleast one more year now. Think I may be looking at dogs trust when I can.

Dogs trust are amazing though we got our current dog from there last January. He was a rescue from Ireland where they had used him as a bait dog in fights. When we got him you could see the fear and hurt in his eyes. Now he’s just a typical 5 year old spaniel bouncing around and chasing after things.

This makes me soo sad. All those beautiful fur babies essentially abandoned bc of idiots.
I'd love to have a dog; had lots growing up (my parents could never find the "right one" - settled on a staffie with 3 small children in the house, it didn't like any of us and actually ended up biting me on the face.) My parents actually fit right in to this impulse animal buying. Hated it every time they got rid of one dog and then months later brought another one into the home.

My DH had the same dog his whole life. Beautiful chocolate lab. She only passed a couple of years ago - we were all heartbroken.

Weve actually got 2 rabbits at the moment tho so not really an option for us. We would definitely adopt tho. Rather than buy.

I just cannot believe how many thick people there are out there.
I have rescued many animals in the last 20yrs - a lot of them are because ‘we got them for the kids’, ‘we wanted the kids to experience how rabbits/guinea pigs have babies’, ‘the kids forget to feed them’ THICK!!
All too many people are interested in these days is telling others that they paid ‘over £2000’ for an inbred dog with a multitude of problems/never ending vets bills, or crosses/mongrels in effect, that breeders charge ££££ for - there are no words 😶

This is why I hate ‘people’

MrsBadcrumble123 couldn’t agree more 👍🏻

We got a rescue dog in lockdown we sent a video of house & garden and then made appointment to view as it’s allowed. We had already adopted from different rescue centre pre covid and we were having same ex racing greyhound again.
The rescue centres x4 have said dogs flying of shelves. So much so that they imported some Irish rescue Greyhounds. Trouble is the puppies that aren’t trained then naughty and no recur centre will risk a child being bitten. It’s really sad.
And most people haven’t returned to work so that fallout yet to happen.

Become naughty sorry

I've looked on Dogs Trust website today and there are only 6 dogs available across the UK for me to consider with primary children in the house. No specification about breed or age or location, just i have young children. Weve been looking for a dog for 2 years but they're just soooooo expensive. Mixed breeds are more expensive then pedigree. My dh and I have always grown up with dogs, this is not a whimsical idea for us but one that we are putting a lot of thought into.

I know SO many friends who 'coincidentally' got a puppy during the first lockdown ('oh, we've been thinking about getting a dog for ages, it's really nothing to do with lockdown' - I'm not convinced in most cases though a couple do seem to have been on a breeder waiting list.) Three of them are, of course, Cockapoos. Honestly, on facebook it was just Pop!Pop!Pop! with new puppies and kittens this last year.

Several friends said 'well my job is now going to be working from home for the forseeable so we have much more time to go for walkies, reassure our puppy by being there' etc - but I'm quite sure that we're NOT about to see a massive work revolution where huge swathes of professional classes abandon their office places and work from the spare room from now until forever. I just don't see it happening. So then you have dogs who've got used to having entire families around them suddenly in empty houses. (Cats, I'm not bothered about. Cats don't give a fuck if you're in or out, or at least ours doesn't!)

I'd love a dog, actually, but feel guilty even voicing that at the moment and wouldn't dream of paying stupid prices and encouraging all the exploitation and over-breeding that's going on. And getting a dog - at least for our family - isn't a quick decision as we have several personal circumstances that would have to be accommodated or changed.

We got a lockdown hamster, and we took weeks and weeks just getting together the things we needed to give it a good life and enough space!

I'm afraid it was inevitable - either that people with no experience of dogs and without the normal access to puppy socialization classes etc wouldn't cope or that what worked when people were home all day wouldn't work when they went back to work.

I sincerely hope that the people who are now contacting the rescue charities to take on one of these poor dogs know what to expect and are not also being swept along on feelings of sympathy for them.

While I do not approve of the people wanting to recoup their outlay for the puppies they are now re-homing, I have to say it is not unknown. As a Brit living in Germany, I adopted an absolutely beautiful 18 month old chocolate Labrador 5 years ago from owners who were not coping with the combination of a large, young dog, small children and an upstairs flat. I was absolutely flabbergasted that they demanded €700 for me to solve their problem and was told that I was fortunate that they did not want their full purchase price plus the costs of vaccination and dog food!

It would be disgraceful if they are destroyed. Better to be rehomed even temporarily than be euthanized. I appreciate the animal charities want to find good homes for dogs but their criteria are so impossible for many families that they have been forced to buy puppies. They should look at long term fostering first perhaps with prospective owners.

Out of interest I just looked on Gumtree, it is really sad how many puppy adverts seem to be nothing more than a get rich quick scheme for the sellers.

Makes my blood boil.

We thought long and hard before we got our dog. My husband had retired and that made it easier. We've had her now nearly 2 years and as we don't have kids, she's our substitute baby!

Love, love, love that dog. Couldn't get rid of her for the world. We choose our holidays so she can come. (Not that we've had many lately.....thanks covid!

Thought I'd posted this....

Two for the price of one!

We have a lockdown puppy. She's a high maintenance, high drive, stubborn piece of goofy shit. We love her to pieces even though it feels like our lives revolve around the puppy and the work now, with no time to breath out.
Meanwhile our older cat has bad arthritis and, what we believe, the beginnings of dementia.
But they are family and we love them. We made the commitment and we're sticking to it. We knew getting a puppy was bloody hard work but the time and effort we invest now will pay off in future and, at 8 months, she's much calmer than she was at the beginning and the relationship is one of love and care from both sides.

Made the error of looking on the Pets4Homes site. There's a poor 7yo whippet on for £500+, being kept outside, which is really awful for single-coated sighthound dogs & they have the nerve to say they want a 5*home!

Just reiterating what pp have said about rescue pups. Our recently adopted rescue dog gave birth to a litter 4 weeks ago in the kitchen (a surprise!) The rescue centre told us that they had a list of vetted applicants who would be interested. If you do want a rescue puppy then fill in the papers and get vetted then you stand a chance.

Saw that poor whippet too @wibblewombat

I have a whippet the same age, he would perish outside. 🥺

Ahahaha @PyongyangKipperbang

Omg wrong thread 🙈

Dog trainers and behaviourists say that all that socialisation is necessary. Dogs should go to as many different places as possible and meet lots of people and other dogs. I agree that at first puppies will not be going out so much because of their innoculations but if someone got a puppy at the beginning of first lockdown that puppy will now be a year old. Of course not all dogs will have problems but it is very likely that a lot will. Lots of my friends and neighbours have dogs and you can tell the difference in the ones that were socialised well and the ones that weren't

You can socialise a dog without having it all out everywhere all the time. And no one has been in complete lockdown for a year where they can't be out and about at all.

Most dogs, who turn out perfectly fine, spend time at home, maybe in some parks, to the vets, around their neighbourhood on a lead, and maybe to friend's places occasionally. They may or may not go into urban settings depending on where they live.

All of that has been perfectly possible for the vast majority of the past year.

It's better if they can meet other dogs, but if you want them to get on with other dogs, but again - that has been possible in the past year, too.

Any trainer that tells you you need to be in classes, doggy daycare, going off to all kinds of shops and festivals or whatever, to have a balanced dog, is trying to sell you something.

I bought a lockdown puppy, I’ll be WFH for the next 5 months or so it’ll break the back of house training and the super intense small puppy period. When I go back to work I’ll likely still WFH for a proportion of the time and it’ll be much easier to manage with a dog that’s settled.
I’ve had no trouble socialising my puppy, plenty of owners still walking their dogs and due to the number of new puppies, loads of smaller dogs to rough and tumble with. The dog was was purchased from a KC assured breeder. People have always under estimated the work involved in caring for a puppy and given them up but I’m betting the vast majority of new owners don’t. There is an unpleasant glee pervading these types of threads and a holier than thou attitude. If you don’t own dogs like I own dogs you’re irresponsible.

I agree it’s the height of stupidity to buy a dog on impulse with no research and it’s horrible to think of people just giving up on their dogs for exhibiting normal puppy behaviour. Some people are just cunts.